


Omoikiru

by JoAsakura



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-19
Updated: 2009-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-03 05:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoAsakura/pseuds/JoAsakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What could be considered a "What if..." of the "Shine on, you crazy snowflake" series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A Netherworld, somewhere below Vie du Marli.

Dante sighed, a long exhalation as he sat down heavily on the scorched earth. He raked one gloved hand through dirt-caked hair and looked around. Dust. Lava. More dust. This was the single dullest precinct of Hell he'd ever set foot in.

Worse, Dante was unsure of how he was going to set foot OUT of it, what with Arius dead and Argosax leaking unhappily into the parched ground.

"This sucks. This really, really sucks." he muttered. Rebellion was an unresponsive weight on his back, and he found himself missing the tempermental devil arms, healing in their cases back home.

"I don't know. I rather like the minimalist look." Dante was on his feet, spinning around with Ebony in his hand the moment he was up. The heartachingly beautiful voice came from a figure hovering a few feet above the ground. Graceful, elegant, the figure's great wings beat slowly. It was made of crystal and flame and Dante had to remind himself forcibly that this was no ally.

"And you are?" He cocked the hammer on Ebony and looked unblinking down the barrel at the newcomer.

"I have many names, son of Sparda. But the most common is Despair. The Despair Embodied." Despair circled Dante as if examining him. "You look so much like him, you know. But I'm sure you've heard that quite a bit."

Dante turned slowly, eyes never leaving the Despair. "Yeah. Are you going to give me the speech about how much you hated him, blah blah blah? I mean, I understand that he did some cleanup work here once." He sneered a little bit, and it made him feel better despite being filthy, sweaty and covered with bug goop.

"Hate him? Dear child, I adored Sparda. I was always amazed that a low-class pretender like Mundus' could've sired someone so... interesting." The Despair tapped it's chin, and the glowing face seemed to pull into a delighted smile. "Mundus was always so.. bourgeois and trashy. Sparda was much more... refined."

It leaned forward, looking closely at Dante. "You, however, could use a bath."

Dante glowered at the Despair and took a step backwards to preserve a sense of personal space. "You're a little low on amenities here. Since you admired my father so much, I don't suppose you'd mind showing me the exit?" Ebony never wavered in his hand.

The Despair started to laugh, a beautiful, bell-like sound. "That's funny. No. I'm sorry, but you broke Argosax and now I'm going to get very bored and lonely." it held up a hand. "And don't even suggest Arius, that pathetic little human. But you, Dante Sparda... you have the potential to be as interesting as your lovely father."

Pale eyes narrowed and Dante scowled harder. "The implication there being...?"

"Being that your father was the last one to come into my house and break my little pet, all because of that whiny halfblood Matier." The Despair pouted. "Sparda made the same mistake you did, little boy, in not realizing this isn't just a subdivision of Hell... this realm and all in it is a part of ...despair."

"So, if I kill you, it all falls apart? Easy." Dante levelled Ivory next to its twin.

"Oh, you're more than welcome to try, little one." The Despair's wings beat slowly. "And great credit to you should you succeed. But if you fail... well, you know the laws of Hell as well as any one should."

"I don't make a habit of failing."

"I know. That's what makes this so delicious, little one." The Despair waved one perfect hand and the air became a rain of flaming needles. Dante dodged, feeling the air burn dangerously close to his face as he danced away, looking for an opening. A salvo of gunfire rocked the Despair backwards and Dante took advantage to close the gap between them with his sword.

The blade buried itself into the Despair's shimmering form and the demon looked mildly surprised. "You are fast. Impressive." It cocked it's head then and the air split with the lightning flash of a whip that had extruded itself from the Despair's hand.

Dante reeled back, the slash on his cheek burning. "Nice trick."

"It gets better." There was a blur of motion, horrifyingly familiar as the Despair lunged forward in the same sword-style that Sparda had used. That Nelo Angelo had used. That Dante used. Except it had no sword, and then it did, flicking out from its hand, impossibly long and sharp and it lanced through Dante's belly, skewering him even as it lifted him up.

Dante bit back a howl at the pain, even as Despair used the blade to flick him aside, tumbling across the dusty ground. He hit hard, unable to find his feet as he rolled, coughing out blood and ash.

"Did that hurt?" The flaming lash flicked forward again, entangling Dante's arm as he unloaded several rounds in the Despair's direction. "I know. You're tired after playing with Argosax. I'm sure you're more fun when you're fresh." The Despair yanked him forward, dragging Dante by the arm as Ivory dropped from numbed fingers.

Dante didn't waste the energy with a reply, using it instead to leg sweep the Despair as he Devil Triggered. It was a desperate move as the Despair was enveloped in a raging electrical storm. Dante could feel the energy draining away even as the demon shook off the attack.

He wobbled, vision greying as he suddenly returned to human form. "Not done.. yet.." he muttered, even as columns of flame and dust erupted around him.

"I think otherwise, little one." The Despair said fondly. "I win." It watched Dante use Rebellion as a prop to stand, then collapse in the blood-stained, burning dust. "I'm going to enjoy my winnings."


	2. Chapter 2

_  
"It's time to wake, my sleepy little angels."_

_Dante slowly blinked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Curled next to him in the soft covers, Vergil stirred and sat up. "Papa!"_

_"Daddy?" He looked up into Sparda's smiling face, confused. "Daddy, I had a bad dream."_

_Their father gathered both boys up in his arms and kissed the tops of their heads. "Did you now? What was so bad?" The smells of breakfast cooking wafted up the stairs._

_"I dreamed that you were gone..." Dante shoook his head. "That bad things happened."_

_"Bad things do happen, Dante." Sparda said gently. "But you and Vergil will grow up strong, and you will survive them." He set the boys down. "Now, I am going away today. You will be good for your mother, correct? Vergil, you will watch out for your little brother? Dante, you will be a good boy, yes?"_

_Dante looked up at his father, scowling._

_"You're already gone."_

~~~~

It wasn't a featherbed when Dante blinked, eyes stinging. He wasn't even lying down, instead dangling like a puppet from heavy chains that vanished into the darkness high above. His guts still felt like he'd swallowed a hot poker and his head felt as if it had been kicked in.

"That wasn't to your liking?" The Despair's voice next to his ear made Dante jump in his bonds. "Pity. I could've taken that some interesting places." What looked like a tongue slithered out from the shimmering, featureless face and slid down Dante's cheek, freezing and burning at once, leaving a trail of reddened skin in its wake.

"I... hate you." Dante rasped, turning his aching head ponderously to look at the Despair. "I really ...hate you."

"I know. But you hate me for personal reasons now, not just the generic 'die demon scum die' rhetoric you're notorious for falling back on." Despair laughed again, the sound sending a pleasant thrill down Dante's spine in spite of himself. "This is so much more intimate." Long fingers burned along Dante's chest, delicately shredding the heavy fabric of his coat.

"What do you want, Despair?" Dante croaked, refusing to flinch at the tiny welts rising on his skin.

Despair's featureless face tilted and it laughed again. "It's both what you think, little one, and something completely different. Now... what *would* you like?" The Despair was replaced by Trish, sunglasses perched on her head and giving Dante an appraising look. "Your mother-friend? Hm. No." She said. "Perhaps, then, that screechy little Marli girl?" Lucia chirped at him, staring from behind her red hair. "No. This is not what stirs you either. Not surprising. I'm annoying *myself* in this form. Ah.. wait.." Lucia's fingers slid over Dante's face, replaced by cool metal.

"I should've guessed." The gravelly voice breathed in Dante's ear. "Mundus' Dark Angel... your.. brother." The metal fingers gripped Dante's face as he tried to look away, and forced him towards Nelo Angelo's perfect, pale blue lips. "Your brother whom you killed." The cool mouth danced over Dante's, warming as it did. "Would you like to see him as he would've been? If he'd been lucky like you?" The voice was smoother and Dante opened his eyes to see Vergil looking back at him tenderly.

"Fuck you." Dante growled at him. "Bastard."

Vergil gently tilted Dante's resistant chin upwards. "You are going to be so much more fun than your dear father." In a moment, Vergil's lips were replaced by the icy burning touch of Despair's, and Dante thought he smelled his own flesh cooking through the pain of the kiss.

"Sparda was a noble, high minded, totally self-righteous individual." Despair purred. "but, make no mistake sweetling, your father was a demon. And like all of us, he lacked the one thing I find irresistable in the meat-monkey side of your family. Guilt. Guilt is such wonderful fodder for despair, and you, little one, have a lovely assortment."

Despair's tongue snaked, impossibly long, down Dante's chest, then back up to encircle his throat in a painful caress. "And Despair is nothing if not educational." It chuckled, nuzzling Dante's ear with a searing touch. "I don't want you to go away without a learning experience."

Dante had been silent, focusing on the memory of Ifrit's fire lancing through his cells and frying his nerve endings when he bonded with the Devil Arms. He could deal with the pain, with protestations of his already overtaxed demon blood trying to keep up with the Despair's brutal touch. Deep inside, he could feel the spark for his Devil Trigger, but

"Would you... shut up... already?" Dante forced himself to focus on the demon. The Despair was a shimmering jewel in his fuzzy vision. "You talk.. way too fucking much."

The sudden blow from Despair's whip nearly took Dante's head off, lancing shards of pain across his face and setting his ears to ringing. But the demon's voice was still pouring smooth as silk into his brain. "A prince shouldn't be so crass. But you've not had a proper upbringing, have you, sweetmeat?"

It lapped at the oozing gash on Dante's cheek, chuckling softly at the strangled sounds in the young man's throat. "Don't wear yourself out, little one. I don't want to burn away all that delicious guilt in your soul."


	3. Chapter 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
_  
"Dante? Man, are you alright?" Tony Redgrave was looking down at him, scratching through the punky spikes of his hair. "You just fell down."_

_"Tony?" Dante blinked, looking up at him._

_"Well, I'm sure not tinkerbell, here, snowflake. Lissen, those guns you wanted.. they're almost done. Aisha brought over the orichalc and the quicksilver earlier, and.."_

_"The guns? Ebony and Ivory?" Dante looked at him horrified, memory crashing into the scene, the materials in the spirit guns pure poison to the humans who built them._

_Aisha, clawing the eyes out of her beautiful dark face._

_Tony smearing pictures of demons on the walls with his own blood._

_"DESPAAAA~IIIIIR~!!!"  
_  
~~~~~~~~~~

"You walk a bloody path, little one." Chuckling, Despair's touch sizzled against the tears tracking through the dirt on Dante's face. "This is the most fun I've had in absolute ages. Those were you last humans, mm? The last ones you let into your bed? Poor baby. Humans too fragile and demons...well... "

Dante fixed a blurry stare on the demon. "What.. the hell... do you want...?" He rasped, mouth feeling full of ashes.

The brilliant face tipped as Despair backhanded Dante with the force of a train wreck. "No more cursing, little prince. It's unbecoming. Now, do you have any idea, sweetling, why the great Sparda, and by extention everyone related to him, is so...incredibly unpopular among the Dark Families?" Burning cold fingers raked down Dante's hips, shredding the leather pants and leaving painful welts in their place.

"Mundus.." Dante licked his lips unconsciously, head lolling as the Despair's wings enfolded him, tiny licks of hot and cold prickling his skin. "Mundus.. he.."

"No one gives a damn about Mundus, sweetling." Despair lifted Dante's chin as the pinions on his wings spread, slithering around the half-breed's thighs. "He was a pompous, ambitious fool."

Dante was trying very hard to focus on Despair's words, even as something was pushing into him, burning inside like heated steel. "Despair.. nuh.. no..." But that impossibly long, hot tongue was filling his mouth.

And still, Despair's voice purred in the base of his skull. "What do you think Hell is? I know, pure chaos - madness... but that's not the case, darling. Oh, no." The Despair paused as it choked off a scream from the young man in it's embrace. "We might be red in tooth and claw here, but Hell has many, many laws. Your father... should've killed Mundus when he had the chance. That's how it's done, pumpkin. He was supposed to kill him and take the throne like any other normal demon. But no. He goes and thinks that sealing him up will teach him a *lesson*"

Dante twisted in dangling chains. His lungs were on fire. His guts were on fire. And the demon inside of him was screaming for more. The Despair's words were swimming in the red haze of his vision as the burning pinions drove deeper into him. He couldn't breathe, on the verge of Devil Trigger, except it was curling in his stomach and his balls and the demon kept on talking, shivering his spine.

"It created an ugly, ugly imbalance in power that lasted for almost two thousand years, darling. If Sparda had just came and taken the throne, it would've ended so differently. And then you come along, and win the kingdom again by blood and by blade.. and you. throw. it. all. away. AGAIN. Poor little confused child."

The world went red and white and Dante screamed as the transformation left him thrashing in the chains. And Despair kept purring in his brain.

"But don't worry. I'll make it all better."


	4. Chapter 4

There was a sound.

Shrill and bleating and piercing right through the base of his skull and coming out through his eyeballs.

It took Dante several moments to realise it was his celphone. And several more, flailing, before he'd secured it and pressed it to his ear.

"WHAT?" His voice was sandpaper-rough and his throat had the taste of bitter acid lingering in the back.

"Yeah. Good fucking morning to you too, Sunshine." Enzo's voice grated in his ear.

"ENZO? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't come over there and skullfuck you for calling me at.. at.." he paused, squinting at the blurry clock on the nightstand. "...two-thirty in the afternoon." He paused, raking through his hair as Enzo rambled at him.

His room. His bed. Enzo shouting obscenities at him as he dropped the phone on the mattress and looked around. Gingerly, Dante slid off the bed, familar wood creaking beneath his feet.

(Another of Despair's mindfucks?)

He coughed, the bitter taste of demon seed coming forward against his tongue. There was a dull persisten burn at the base of his spine, an ache like scar tissue deep inside. Blinking slowly, Dante picked the phone up again. "yo. look, Enzo..."

"Jesus, Dante. Have you heard anything I just said?" He could almost feel the spittle coming through the tiny holes in the reciver.

"No. Look, what day is it?" Enzo palpably settled down.

"That's what I've been trying to find out from you. Someone said they saw you get back the other day, and I wanna know what the hell is going on. You're a week overdue from Vie Du Marli and then you just sneak back without calling in?"

Dante dropped the phone again, Enzo's voice receeding as he padded into the hallway.

There was a smell. It was oily and stomach-churning. He paused. It was... bacony?

(Bacon?) He braced himself. "Despair, you fuck." He rasped softly. Another might'vebeen? His mother? Vergil? Waiting cheerful for him to tear out his heart again? "Despair...."

But this was so real. The satin wear on the banister, the cracking plaster. Too real to not be.

The sizzling bacon caused his stomach to do another half-twist, and he stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

And stopped.

The redhead wearing one of Dante's shirts didn't pause once in breakfast preparations. Didn't turn as he spoke.

"Well, well, well, Little Sparda. You're up much earlier than I expected." The voice was too silky to be human, yet it carried in his ear instead of his mind.

"Despair, what the fuck is this?"

The demon picked up a blackened piece of meat in his fingers and glanced over his shoulder at Dante with inhumanly green eyes. "It's bacon." He... it... commented drily.

Dante moved quickly to slap it away, but the demon slipped aside, no less graceful for the human guise he wore now. The pan clattered to the stovetop as Despair's other hand wrapped around Dante's wrist and pressed him back against the stove. He took a bite of the bacon with too-perfect teeth before discarding it.

Despair brushed his lips over Dante's ear. "I told you, didn't I, sweet little one? I told you that I would make it all better."

Inexorable strength held the hunter in place, the stove burning slowly into the small of his back. Still-greasy fingers slid down Dante's stomach. "This." They curled around Dante's cock. "This gave me what I needed to build a suitable shell. Your dear father. As much as I enjoyed his company, he never gave me what I truly wanted. He never came for me like you did, sweetling." The tongue that now lapped against Dante's ear burned with a banked heat.

"Why...?" Dante rasped as the demon stroked him like some delicate pet.

"Did you think I could just let you go after tasting you? I told you. You destroyed my Argosax. But I have to thank you... I think we will have so much fun. So much wonderful fun in this human world. A garden of despair I look so forward to exploring with you, Little Sparda."

_Forsan miseros meliora sequentur _


End file.
